Herbert Mullin : “The Savior of San Francisco”
Herbert William Mullin was born on April 18, 1947 in Salinas, California. Mullin lived a rather mundane existence until his best friend was killed in a car accident. Some experts believe this was the trigger for the schizophrenia that began to affect his personality and decision-making abilities. Mullin turned to drugs to cope with his changing brain physiology, but it only seemed to exacerbate his schizophrenia. He checked himself in to various treatment centers sporadically but typically disengaged himself from the requirements by refusing to go to group therapy or taking his medication. As Mullin’s schizophrenia became worse, he became entranced with the idea that because his birthday and the anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake were on the same day, he had superior knowledge as to how to prevent such a disaster from occurring again. After a mathematician predicted the San Andreas Fault would unleash a disastrous earthquake on January 4, 1973, the voices in Mullin’s head told him that human sacrifice would be the only way to prevent a catastrophic loss of life. Murders '''October 13, 1972: '''Mullin beats a local transient man, Lawrence White, to death after seeing him hitchhiking. To Mullin, White appeared to be Jonah from the Bible and had asked Mullin to kill him so that others would be spared. '''October 24, 1973: '''College student Mary Guilfoyle was hitchhiking when she ran into to Herbert Mullin. He soon stabbed and dismembered her before scattering her remains along the side of the road. '''November 2, 1973: '''Mullin developed a sudden need to confess his sins and arrived at the Catholic church of Father Henry Tomei. Believing that the priest had offered himself as a sacrifice, Mullin proceedEd to beat and stab Tomei. He left the priest in the confessional booth where he would bleed out and die. '''January 25, 1973: '''Mullin heads to the home of an old friend who used to sell him weed, Jim Gianera, but finds that the Francis family have moved in. The new owners give Mullin Gianera’s new address and he proceeds to the residence. Mr. and Mrs. Gianera were greeted with two shots to the head and multiple stab wounds. Mullin backtracked to the Francis residence and shot and killed Kathy Francis and her two sons (aged 8 and 9). '''February 10, 1973: '''Mullin stumbles upon a group of four teenage boys illegally camping in the state park. Offering himself up as a park ranger, he asks the boys to leave the area. When they resisted, Mullin shot each boy fatally, leaving them to make his escape. '''February 13, 1973: '''Mullin was driving along through a quiet neighborhood and a man out gardening caught his eye. He stopped his car, steadied his rifle, and shot Fred Perez in the heart before nonchalantly driving away He was captured several minutes later with no apparent altercation. Aftermath Mullin confessed to his crimes and explained his belief that all of his victims HAD to have been killed in order to prevent an earthquake from coming and wiping out great swathes of Californians. His trial was not one of guilt or innocence but one examining whether he was both sane and culpable for his actions. On August 19, 1973, the jury convicted Herbert Mullin of the first-degree murder of Jim Gianera and Kathy Francis and six subsequent charges of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California Category:California Category:Schizophrenia Category:Serial Killer Category:Mission-Oriented